Bubba Wallace is staying at 23XI Racing.
The team announced Wednesday that Wallace had signed a contract extension. The continuation of their pairing was always extremely likely, but Wallace had said weeks ago that his contract negotiations with the team were impacted by what was happening with NASCAR’s charter agreement.
23XI Racing, the team owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, was one of two teams that didn’t sign the franchise agreement with NASCAR. The current charter agreement expires at the end of the season and teams had been negotiating for months with NASCAR. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports chose not to sign the charter and 23XI said in a statement earlier this month that “we did not have an opportunity to fairly bargain for a new charter contract.”
Teams had been asking NASCAR for a greater percentage of income from the new media rights deal that starts in 2025. The broadcast deal is the primary source of non-sponsor revenue for teams and is the primary source of income for NASCAR and the tracks that host races.
Two weeks ago at Atlanta, Wallace said “that’s what we’re waiting on” when he was asked directly by media members if the charter negotiations were affecting the finalization of his contract extension.
“I know my process has been kind of going hand in hand with the charter agreement,” Wallace said. “It’s frustrating to see where we’re at because that impacts my livelihood and everything moving forward for my future. That’s really all I’ve got to say about it.”
23XI has made no indication that it’s going to pull out of NASCAR if it doesn’t sign NASCAR’s charter agreement. The charter deal guarantees spots in every race for all 36 chartered cars and those cars also get a larger share of purse money. Without more than 40 cars showing up to the track every week, the worst-case scenario for the team is that Wallace and Tyler Reddick run as “open” cars on a weekly basis if 23XI doesn’t have charters next season.
Reddick won the regular-season title and is currently sixth in the points standings through the first two races of the playoffs. Wallace missed the playoffs and is 19th in the standings with five top-five finishes and 10 top 10s. Over four seasons with the team, Wallace has won two races and was 10th in the points standings a season ago.
